Arch construction for furnaces



-April 1 1924.

' 1,488,468 F. B. BIG ELOW I ARCH CONSTRUCTION FOR FURNACES File n. 15. 1923 2 Sheets-Sheet '1 I. W491. Z9 25 23 m f9 1,488,468 F. B. BlGELOW ARCH CONSTRUCTION FOR FURNACES 2 Sheets-Sha e? 2 Filed Jan. 15'. 1923 Patented Apr. 1, 1924.

FRANKB. IBIGELOW, OF DETROIT, IICHIGAN.

ARCH consrnuo'rron non runnacrs.

Application filed January 15, 1923. Serial No. 612,630.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK B. Blonmw, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Arch Constructions for Furnaces, of which the following is a specification.

In furnaces having renewable brick arches in which the injured or damaged bricks may be individually removed and replaced with new ones, in one style of structure, each brick is supported from above by its own hanger, the brick being grooved for the reception of a supporting shoe hung on the lower end of the hanger.

Such brick groove is desirably undercut in cross-section for the retention of the shoe therein and it is open at both ends, whereby the shoe may be inserted in and withdrawn from the groove at either end of the latter.

In other words, the shoe is slidably mounted in the brick groove and hence'the brick is likely to fall ofi' of the shoe when it is being inserted in the arch if the shoe becomes accidently tilted or inclined.

The present invention provides simpile and inexpensive means for locking the shoe to the brick to avoid the possibility of'such unintentional separation, et it permits the ready placement of the oe in the groove and its removal therefrom if at any time that becomes desirable.

In order to enable those skilled in this art to fully understand the structural and functional advantages of a furnace embody ing this invention, in the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, I have illustrated desirable and preferred embodiments of the invention and 'ements of the structure being omitted to more clearly depict. the details of construction;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section through the upper portion of the furnace showing a modified form of arch brick hanger;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary longitudinal vertical section on an enlarged scale through the back part of the arch showing the supporting means for the bricks, the hangers for the main bricks of the arch being like those shown in Figure 1;

Figure Lisa vertical fragmentary crosssection through a portion of the arch, shown in (Figures land 3, near one side of the arch; an

Figure 5 is a perspective view of one of the arch bricks and the style" of hanger shown in Figure 2. I

In the particular embodiments shown, al-' though as will be obvious to those skilled in this art, the invention may be satisfactorily employed in furnaces of radically different styles, the furnace is of the usual Murphy type comprising a V-shaped grate 11, a clinker grinder 12, opposed coking-plates 13, 13 associated sidewise-reciprocating st'okerboxes 14, 14, superposed fuel-magazines 15, 15, air fiues 16, longitudinal archeplates 17,

17, and rows of archlate bricks 18, 18, supported on the arch-p ates and held or locked in position by appropriate latches 19, the liftingor .elevation of which releases the bricks permitting their ready replacement.

The flat suspended arch proper 20 is composed of a plurality of bricks 21 arranged in horizontal, longitudinal and transverse rows, as is clearly depicted in Figure 1, and, when the arch is new, all of these bricks or refractory blocks will be of prac tically the same-thickness and will unitedly present a substantially-smooth lower face.

Each such arch-brick has an undercut or inverted T-shaped groove 40 in its top face for the purpose of accommodating or receiving a suitably-shaped, transversely-apertured shoe 22 having an enlarged lower part occupying the undercut section of the'brick cavity.

Each brick shoe of this kind, except those at the side and rear margins of the fiat arch, in the embodiment of the invention shown inFigures 1, 3 and 4, is supported from a pipe 23 above by means of a chain 24 with hookends 25 and 26, the former taking into the eye or hole of the shoe and the latter engaging the appropriate link of the chain to support the brick at the desired or required height, such elevation of the brick obviously being subject to adjustment by catching the hook in any desired link of the chain.

, The construction comprises one such upper, apertured pipe for each longitudinal row of bricks, these several pipe's being sufiiciently high above the bricks to permit the replacement of any one of the latter without disturbance of the others, the pipes being supported by front and rear cross I-beams 27 of which only the latter is shown in F igures 1 and 3.

At the front of the furnace such pipes are open to the outer air through the furnace front-plate as shown in Figure 2 which illustrates another embodiment of the invention, such connection to the outer air being common to all embodiments of the invention;

Each such pipe extends rearwardly through registering holes in the webs of the corresponding I-beams projecting back of the rearmost one some distance as shown in Figures 2 and 3.

In the operation of the furnace, outer air, by the draft of the appliance, is drawn in through these several pipes and delivered through their holes or apertures near their rear ends in smalljets into the space above outermost pipes 23 by means of hangerswhich give great refinement of regulationas to len h.

Eac such brick one of the usual shoes 22, but this is sus ended from the pipe by a reversely-threade turn-buckle hanger 32 which gives opportunit for nicety of adjustment as to length t us accurately governing or gauging the position of the brick which it supports. a 4 i The fiat under surface of each brick 31 must bear on the top plane'face of the corresponding lower arch-plate brick with sufficient pressure to assure a comparatively or relatively tight joint between them, but this pressure must not be suflicient or great enough to materially hamper or retard the bodily movement of the upper brick over the lower one as is caused by the expansion and contraction of the arch under the wide ranges of temperaturesto which it is sub jected.

At the rear of the furnace, the projectin part of each pipe 23 supports an apertures seal-brick 33 mounted directly on the end of the pipe by the reception of the latter in its cavity, the brick or block being held in place on the pipe by a pipe-plug 34 maintained in position by a catch 35 inside of the pipe and aving a downturned end e in a hole in the pipe, all as is fully shown in igure 3.

of combustion.

The part of the brick recess accommodating the plug but not occupied {by the latter is filled by a fire-clay plug 36, l as will be readily understood and as is fully illustrated in .Figure 3. I

The end-bricks 37 of the arch are of the cross-sectional shape indicated in Figure 3, and they are individually or separately supported on the several pipes by turn-buckle or other suitable hangers 38 in much the same manner that the bricks 31 are held in position.

The accurate and delicate screw-thread adjustment permitted by such hangers allows the co-acting flat facesof the bricks '37 and 33 to be brought into and kept in pro r contact under all conditions of service,t us rendering certain and guaranteeing the correct tightness or seal of the joint without interference with the necessary relative movements of these parts by reason of expension and contraction of the elements of the structure subjected to the heat of the fur:

In Figure 1 of the drawing all of the bricks of the main body of the arch are of the same thickness and their hangers are adjusted for uniform length. Thisjcondition could well represent the construction when it is first installed.

It is to be understood however that the arch need not be fiat since it may have an upward curvature more or less as may be. required or desired.

In Figures 3 and 4 the bricks or refractory' blocks are of different thicknesses and their hangers or supporters have been adjusted accordingly to cause them to present a practically smooth under surface exposed to the direct heat of the furnace.

An arch of this general character usually requires repairing rather than the renewal of the entire arch, and if a local deterioration can be repaired easily and inexpensively, as is permitted by this improved construction, the life of the arch as a whole is lengthened many times.

In this new structure, the space at the rear of the arch is closed by special bricks or blocks, so attached or supported that they cannot be forced off of the supporting members by the expansion of the arch and at the same time the construction keeps the joints ti ht thus avoiding an inefficient 0 eration o the furnace or an injurious or passage of the heated It should be noted in passin that the arch-plate bricks are independent y supported pr held in lace and can be uickly and easily remove and replaced wit out intergaseous products 1 fering with any other portion of the arch.

Thus every brick in the arch is independently. supported and .can be taken out and replaced without disturbing the balance masses of the arch or in some'cases it may be preferable to carry more than one brick on each hanger.

To modify the lengths of such hangers,.

their end portions are merely bent more or less to increase or shorten their lengths for the purposes aboye indicated.

Now as to all of the bricks 21, 31 and 37, their inverted T-shaped grooves 40 extending the full lengths of the bricks are intersected at the middle of each brick by a transverse shallower groove 44 in register with the hole or eye of the brick shoe and adapted to accommodate the lower hook of the hanger, whatever its form may be, which hooks into the aperture of the shoe. I

Thus, Whereas the shoe 22 maybe readily slid into its brick groove 40, the shoe is locked to the'brick just as soon as the lower. hook of the hanger is hooked into the shoe, and since such hook is accommodated in the cross-groove or channel, it demountably locks the brick and shoe together so that there is no danger of the former sliding off of the latter when they are being inserted in place in the furnace.

Of course the are readily unlocked just as soon as the anger and vshoe are separated.

Such positive and assuredattachment of the bricks to their shoes and hangers eatly facilitates the handlingof the bric s by means of their supporting hangers during their introduction into the furnace and'their insertion in proper place in the brick arch.

The invention is not limited and restricted to the precise and exact details of structure shown and described since these may be modified within radical limits without departure from the heart and essence of the invention and without the sacrifice of-any of its substantial benefits and advantages.

I claim:

1. In an arch construction of the character described, the combination of a brick having a groove in its top face open at least at one end, a supporting shoe in said groove, means to lock said shoe against substantial movement longitudinally in said groove, and means to support said shoe from above.

2. In an arch construction of the character described, the combination of a brick having a groove in its top face open at least at one end, a supporting shoe in said groove, and means to support said shoe from above, said latter means locking said shoe against movement in said groove..

3. In an arch construction of the character described, the combination of a brick having an undercut groove in its top face open at both ends, a supporting-shoe in said groove, means to lock said shoe against movement in said groove, and means to support said shoe from above.

4. In an arch construction of the character described, the combination of a brick having in its top face a main groove and a supplemental groove intersecting said main groove, a shoe in said main groove, means in said supplemental groove cooperating with said shoe to lock the latter against movement in said main groove, and means to support said shoe and 1ts brick.

5. In an arch construction of the character described, the combination of a brick having a main undercut groove and a supplemental groove intersecting said main groove, an apertured shoe in said main groove withits aperture in register with said supplemental groove, means in said latter groove cooperating with'the aperture of said shoe to lock the shoe against movement in said main grooLve, and means to support saidshoe and its brick.

6. In an arch construction of the character described, the combination of a brick having a main undercut groove open at both ends and a supplemental groove. intersecting said main groove, an apertured shoe in said main groove with its aperture in register. with said supplemental groove and a hanger for said shoe having a hook in said supplemental groove and extended through the aperture of said shoe thereby locking the latter against movement in said main groove.

7. An arch brick for furnaces having a. groove in its top face open at least at one end and designed to accommodate a supporting shoe for the brick and another groove in the same face of the brick at an an is to and intersecting said first groove an provided to receive a lock for said shoe to hold'the latter against substantial movement longitudinally in the first groove.

8. An arch brick for furnaces having an undercut groove extended the full length of the top face of the brick and open at both ends and designed to accommodate a supportmg shoe for the brick and a cross-groove 1n the same face of the brick intersecting at least a portion of said first groove and provided to receive a lock for said shoe to hold the latter against substantial movement longitudinally in the first groove.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal.

FRANK BIGELOW. [I.. 5.] 

